Well that was quicker than I anticipated...

Dedications: Little White Comet, AlexJohnD

Chapter 10

~Jack Frost~

"Who the hell dreamed up this nightmare of terror?" Eugene asked loudly and I couldn't help but agree.

"It was Rapunzel." I said quietly. I just took in everything. The whole scene of the dream. The odd thing about it though, was it looked like we were enclosed in the carnival. Like, it was just a small world of the carnival. Nothing else. There was no leaving, even if we wanted to. Looking up into the sky, it was red. And the odd thing about it was, it looked like webs.

Focusing on the sky made me feel claustrophobic so I busied myself by staring at the attractions in the dream. There was a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a few tents, vendor stations, a fun house, a haunted house, a face painting booth, and a dunking booth were the few things I could see from my position. Everything was rusted and the field of grass was overgrown. The lights were off so it was rather dark with the red from the sky illuminating the carnival and staining everything red.

There was no one here. There weren't dead bodies, zombies, killers. There was literally nothing we could see. I didn't know if that was her fear. I didn't know what it was.

Despite the lights not being on, there were the occasional sound effects that one would normally hear at a carnival and it was a lot freakier in the dark.

We began walking and I noticed that mini-Merida had disappeared. That was good, we didn't have to look after her anymore.

I also realized that somehow I had my cane back. I hadn't realized that I lost it until I felt it in my hands. That was good at least, I knew that it was pretty much like a restart per-dream. Looking at Eugene, I noticed he wasn't burned anymore and Merida was un-singed and her clothes were kempt again. A part of me wondered if I looked like the devil's chew toy when we were in Merida's nightmare. I didn't care enough to ask.

Eugene looked around, he was the first to proceed walking and I guess he was making mental notes. He cringed looking at the dunking booth to see it was filled with black tar. It was strange though. Someone's arm was clawed to the side of the booth and the tar was webbed up their arm, pulling them back in.

"That doesn't make sense. There's no one here. Could that be Rapunzel?" Eugene asked, while pointing. But I had the feeling in my gut that it wasn't. In fact, watching it gave me a very bad feeling.

"No. That isn't her." Merida shook her head quickly. "I know. Let's go befar it gets out." She led us onwards and I followed shortly behind her. I felt like we should take her lead. She was closest to Rapunzel, she should know best.

"Where do you think she is?" Eugene asked and she shook her head again.

"I dun know. I think I will when I see it." She said sternly. She was absolutely determined. I couldn't blame her. I wanted to find Rapunzel too.

We were walking for what seemed like forever. We moved cautiously, taking in the hideous catastrophe that was plaguing Rapunzel's mind. Out of all of the dreams thus far, Rapunzel's was the most mapped out and detailed. It was engraved down to the claw marks on the slowly moving horses of the merry-go-round.

I couldn't say how long we had been walking but I could say that all of us jumped out of our skins when the power suddenly flickered on and music blared through the enclosed area. Looking up at the sky, I wondered if it echoed out there as well.

"Step right up! Step right up! Step right up!" It seemed that one of the tapes of the video was skipping. It was annoying up until a scratching sounds was heard, then a snap. Then the voice was a good 4 octaves lower than before and kept going down and getting slower. There were electrical issues and sparks were flying everywhere.

"She's in there." Merida said suddenly, and just as quickly as she pointed, I knew that it was bad news. House of mirrors.

"Is she scared of ghosts? Because if so, I saw this movie…" Eugene started and we hurried along to get to the building. "Mirrors are like portals for them or something so let's hope she's afraid of something like… birds. I'm not entirely sure if I could handle a ghost dream."

"Let's not psyche ourselves out, now." I said with a funny look because the more he mentioned it, the less easy it was to stomach.

Climbing up the stairs made me nervous. In fact, the whole building made me nervous. It was about 4 stories and the stairway had several steps and the entrance was narrow. I knew by looking at it that Eugene was going to have to crouch down and that alone made me smile. I forgot that he was older for a brief moment.

Merida was the first to enter. She didn't seem too scared by the house of mirrors at all. In fact, I was seeing why she was sorted into Gryffindor right now. She marched in without a second thought.

Merida first, me second and Eugene third into the building and I noticed there was a very small crammed stairway that led straight up. We quickly jogged up the stairs and we greeted by darkness. I heard Merida's breathing hitch and she carefully stepped forwards and instantly, we were bathed in the flickering lights of the house.

Just staring forwards confused me. I didn't know how to get out of the maze but Merida seemed to know. She placed her left hand on the mirrors and began walking along, muttering something about a maze shortcut.

We followed closely behind and didn't even realize the floor had a slight incline. We were up another floor and we didn't even realize. The building was rather large.

I had to admit, the reflections were rather creepy. They were endless and it made me dizzy to stare at them too long so I tried my best to stare at Merida's hair. It was oddly calming.

Upon hearing a shriek, we knew that we were headed in the right direction. Merida even started walking quicker until it turned into a full on sprint. Eugene bumped into me, pushing me a couple feet and confused me until I spun around and had no idea which direction Merida had run in which annoyed me more than anything since I could see hundreds of her reflections running off into opposite ends.

"Where do we go?" Eugene asked, distressed and I ran my fingers through my hair. I hadn't a clue.

"Merida!" I shouted. It echoed. No response.

"Son of a…" Eugene spat angrily. "Where the hell do we go?"

"Jack?!" I perked up at that. It wasn't Merida. It was Rapunzel.

"Rapunzel!" I began heading in the direction I heard her voice originate from. Eugene was wary. Then all of a sudden he yelped. I could understand why.

The sudden smell of rotting decay hit my nostrils and I quickly covered my mouth and nose finding it hard to breath.

I saw the reflection of a person. Big red shoes, huge blue parachute pants, a tattered rainbow polka-dot shirt with dirt, tar and grime imbedded in the material. His hair was one of those big red clown wigs, but there was blood caked in the singed edges of his hair and his face was a mask. It wasn't anything intentionally scary. It was just a smiling clown face. Which on its own was terrifying, however the circumstances and the appearance of the rest of him added to that effect.

In the clown's hand, there was a weapon. I couldn't gather what it was from the blurry reflection. I just knew not to go near him.

Just as quickly as we took note of this masked figure, the top of the mirrors looked like they melted into being red. The lights faded and all I could see was that sickly sweet smile of the clown that terrified me more than I cared to admit.

I clutched harder on to my cane and started making a mad dash, finding myself bumping into the glass more than I thought I would. Eugene was right behind me, breathing at an accelerated pace. The clown's reflection stayed at a pretty constant speed. Like it was strolling. I saw him in the mirror, right beside me. However it unnerved me because he wasn't next to me so I didn't understand how his reflection was angled that way. But his reflections were more askew, I found that I saw him limitedly in the other mirrors and I couldn't understand why.

Eugene had his hands on my shoulders as if he was telling me to hurry up, he was pushing me slightly, only slightly because I was already at a quickened pace, trying my hardest not to make eye contact with the clown's glowing yellow eyes.

Looking at my feet I noticed why it was slowly harder to walk. The ground was getting thicker and thicker. Black tar was oozing up from the floors and through the cracks of each individual mirror. I heard a cackle and knew it was the clown. I had to keep going. I had to find Rapunzel.

"Jack." Eugene's grip tightened on me. I knew he knew something. He pushed me ahead quickly and that's when the glass shattered in-between us. Oddly enough, no tar came out, however I noticed why the clown was always at a constant speed with us. He was walking next to us the entire time, through the mirror.

Using the hook end of my cane, I grabbed Eugene and quickly pulled him onto my side before the clown was able to escape from the rubble of the broken glass. Eugene and I took off running, but found ourselves being significantly slowed down due to the tar that was slowly creeping up our legs.

I felt my body being jerked to the left and when I was able to focus, I smiled at the reason. Rapunzel. She found us. And of course, Merida seemed to find her.

"You came to save me, Jack." She smiled gratefully and I nodded and pinched her cheek.

"You knew I would. I promised." I then gestured my necklace which was flashing every color it possibly could. So was Merida's and Rapunzel's. Hearing a cackle not too far behind us was good indication why that was.

I was angry at myself for stopping while I had this thick goop pulling me, trying to take hold of me completely. I kept onwards though. Rapunzel seemed to know where she was going and with several people around her, she didn't even seem scared anymore.

"Where do we have to go?" Merida asked while looking behind her quickly, after noticing that the mirrors were filled with images of the clown. Rapunzel pointed.

"Once we get out of the maze, I can tell you." She said quickly.

"Rapunzel, how do I get out of this tar?" I asked and Eugene had to agree. For some reason, we were the only ones sinking. Rapunzel, who didn't seem to notice this before, began to cry. She shook her head and covered her mouth and even anxiously ran her fingers over her eyes and through the sides of her hair. "What?"

"You can't get out." She shook her head quickly. "This is where I always die in my nightmare. I can't figure out how to get out of the tar. Once you look into his eyes, he has you. The tar grabs you and you can't get out." This could be a problem. A pretty big one.

"Why the hell am I always the one in the most danger?" Eugene asked as he struggled to lift his legs higher than a few inches.

"I don't know." I looked at the ground and crossed my arms. "Rapunzel, go. Leave the nightmare." I demanded and she shook her head and began playing with her hair as if she was trying to think of something. Merida glanced around and grabbed my cane and bashed the mirror to her right, getting glass all over the floor beneath their feet.

"What are you doing?" Eugene asked, as he continued to attempt to pull his feet up.

"Buying you guys time." She hit another mirror. Then another.

Rapunzel fumbled in her pockets, she was trembling, now she was starting to see more and more of her nightmare walk up to them through the reflections. She grabbed hold of her wand but was so flustered she couldn't remember a spell to use. She started to breath heavily and nearly dropped her wand several times until Eugene grabbed it from her hands and muttered a spell, however since it wasn't his approved wand, it backfired slightly and several feet in front of us erupted in flames.

"Not quite what I wanted, but I'll take it." He handed Rapunzel her wand and grabbed the staff from Merida.

"What are you doing, Rider?" I asked anxiously as I watched him set fire to my hand crafted cane. He ignored me and soon enough, the whole top of it was blazing. He smiled so I suppose that's what he wanted it to do.

Placing it at our feet seemed to be his goal but despite being calculated out by him, I was still very wary.

"What are yeh doin'?" Merida practically screamed but Eugene just smiled as the ground beneath our feet erupted into flames.

"Merida, I suggest jumping to that end." Eugene said with a smile and she looked at him like he was nuts. "Tar hardens as it cools." He stated and pulled his legs up. It was starting to become more and more loose around our feet. But I'm Jack Frost, I don't necessarily do well in the heat.

I started to sweat profusely and moved my feet as quick as I could, hoping to speed up the process. I heard a loud scream and looked up to see the clown, very slowly and almost leisurely walking through the wall of flames.

A final upwards thrust of our feet, we stumbled backwards and away from the tar. My feet were still covered in a disgusting layer of it, but no longer did it keep me glued to the floor and that seemed to be Eugene's plan the whole time.

My vision got extremely blurry. I couldn't process anything that was happening. It was like I wasn't even there. Everything I heard was muffled echoes of what once was someone's voice. I couldn't distinguish anyone apart. I couldn't even feel the heave up and the jolting sensation of running. I didn't know if I survived or if the clown got me. I just knew I was hot.

"Jack it'll be okay. We got you." Which was a clear sentence. I don't know who said it. Nor could I understand the order it was said in. It kept repeating and playing back to back. Sometimes repeating the same word twice. It made me dizzier.

I felt a brush of cold air and couldn't help but smile. My eyes closed and I saw glowing yellow. The clown's eyes. I was seeing the clown's eyes. I am going to get trapped in tar again. My heart sped up and I started to breath heavily.

Yellow eyes. Yellow eyes.

Pitch Black has yellow eyes.

The boogeyman has yellow eyes.

Please review!

And I've gotten several suggestions of Hiccup's nightmare. They're good ideas with basically him feeling insignificant, however; how am I expected to have a group of people in a nightmare about him feeling insignificant?

Thank you for the reviews. Again, reviewer 50 gets a one-shot! Love you guys!